Later On

From Andrew Sullivan:

Alan Simpson was tapped to lead our Social Security reform effort, but unfortunately it turns out that he’s dumb as a post (malsaĝa kiel ŝtipo is the Esperanto expression). Sullivan comments:

While talking about raising the retirement age, Ryan Grimm caught Alan Simpson peddling some misleading life expectancy numbers. Chait piled on. Aaron Carroll explains how improved infant mortality rates greatly skew the data:

[I]f you made it to 65, even back in 1950, you could expect to be on Social Security for 14 years. In 1970, if you made it to 65 and qualified for Medicare, you could expect to live for about 15 years on the program. So a lot of people were making use of these programs, for a lot of years. The second thing to notice is that life expectancy for someone who lives to 65 and qualifies for these programs, hasn’t gone up as much, or as quickly, as people think.

Looks like a terrific book.

It is inevitable that our corporate masters would begin to extend their control (such as it is) of government to government-supported institutions, and in particular education: Education is a significant factor in establishing the outlook of the citizenry, and oligarchs will want to control that.

Inside Higher Ed reviews the details.

UPDATE: It looks as though Florida State University is just the tip of the iceberg. The Koch Brothers are engaged in multiple campaigns to realign higher education toward the right. More info here.

What a dynamite site! The Smithsonian inaugurates an on-line jukebox of out-of-copyright tunes, mostly from 78s.

I finally get it: sitting to read a book, though commendable, is as bad for your body as sitting to watch TV.

Extremely big graphic after the fold.

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Take a careful look:

Details here, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. You can also download a PDF of the full report. Kevin Drum’s post was what took me there, and his comments are worth reading.

Lots more at the link, including this chart:

Sounds like a terrific recipe. I’m willing to use regular nectar and cacao powder. More info here.

Raw Avocado Cacao Mousse

serves 4-6

4 ripe avocados
1/3 cup raw coconut nectar
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
fresh fruit and nuts for garnish

In the bowl of a blender or food processor, blend avocado until smooth. Add all other ingredients, blending until mixture is uniform. Chill for about 2 hours in the fridge or half an hour in the freezer. Garnish with fresh fruit or chopped nuts.

At the link, she points out that agave and/or honey can be used in place of the raw coconut sweetener, and unsweetened cocoa powder for the raw cacao powder. Or, of course, you could use other sweeteners: Splenda, sugar, whatever.

Also at the link: Many alternate recipes in the comments, including one that sweetens with maple syrup.

A few days ago I blogged about how, just as in the franchise that begin with the movie Terminator, we find ourselves surrounded by entities we have created that live longer than we, that are not only more powerful than individual humans but more powerful even than most governments, and that follow their own imperatives (to grow profits) regardless of any damage done to its human creators. These entities are not physical creations, packaged as robots, but they are certainly things that we’ve made that have grown beyond our ability to control them, and they care absolutely nothing about the welfare of humans (save those that serve it most assiduously—but they, too, suffer and can be sacrificed).

Take this story, for example:

Yesterday afternoon 12 members of a local environmental committee unanimously approved Hidroaysén, the largest hydroelectric project in the history of Chile.

This is a particularly gnarly example of how multinational corporations can dictate policy-making, basically shitting on public opinion, long-term environmental and economic considerations, and most of all the the local people.

My colleague Eileen Smith lives in Santiago and reported from the demonstrations following the decision. Within 30 minutes of the protestors gathering, police drove four buses along the curve of the street to block the demonstration from view by the commuting public, and then fired water cannons and tear gas into the crowd when protesters attempted to cross the street from Plaza Italia.

The protestors, chanting Piñera, entiende, Patagonia no se vende (Piñera (president of the Republic), understand, Patagonia is not for sale), expressed what’s so wrong about the project, that it’s essentially selling off irreplaceable Patagonian land and water. Here are 11 facts of this project:

Continue reading.

Miss Molly has a cardboard box that she uses as her nest on the dining room table. It’s somewhat too small, which for a cat is just right, and it has nice edges on which to rest her cheek.

Now The Wife has on offer a little basket, again too small, and Molly has been carefully checking it out: she’ll sit a while in the box, then move to the basket to compare, then back to the box, and so on. Here are some action photos of the process.

And here’s another view:

And another, with Molly obviously wondering about the camera activity:

And, finally, one sort of from above so you can compare sizes of Molly and basket. Her box is just behind her. Note how the sides bow outward:

I see I should have wiped the lid with a damp cloth to remove the soap/water deposits. So it goes.

Klar Seifen is good stuff: great lather and the aftershave is light and refreshing. And the Slant—let me repeat the advice in the book: Your second razor should be a slant bar. Some will avoid that step, but when they finally do take it, they will regret the time lost. A great razor with a unique action.

Sometimes daily life will present data so pointed that the conclusions are writ plain. An example just now presented itself: For some years The Wife has commuted two days a week up the peninsula and back, along (mostly) 101. She commented that she has noticed that the new convention seems to be for the slower drivers to move to the left lane rather than the right.

At first I thought that my curmudgeonness was rubbing off on her, but she responded that, no, she was basing this on actual observation—for example, it was noticeably more frequent that one car after another would have to pull to the right to pass (on the right) some slow driver insisting on using the fast lane regardlesss of how many cars had to go around him.

Aha. It’s not the majority of drivers,then—most drivers still drive under the rubric of “faster, lefter.” Yes. So what has happened is that this minority has gotten subsstantially larger—noticeably larger. Like if it were 2% of drivers before, it’s now 4% and verging on 6%. That’s the idea, but it might just be from 1% to 2% and moving toward 3%. That would still be a substantial and noticeable increase.

Okay. Now: why the increase? What changed that resulted more of this type of driver nowadays?

I blame mandatory passive restraints—specifically, airbags that protect both frontseat passengers. The timing’s about right, and something was previously holding down the number of such drivers—culling the herd, as it were. And, of course, driving slow in the left lane leads to getting an impact from behind: the initial impetus would be the seat thrusting abruptly forward (high jerk), which accelerates the torsos (experienced as being thrust back into the seat). When the car stops even more abruptly, as they do in wrecks, this additional acceleration was once expended on rigid shapes on the dash and windshield, but now plops into an airbag. So the idiot driver drives again, zombies (as it were) in our midst, with their increased survival rates accounting for the growth in number.

The Mac attack is on the move. I downloaded a virus-detection program.

The dots continue changing color as they orbit the center:

More info here.

From a post by the Wednesday Chef, worth reading in itself for the cookbook recommendation (Cooking in the Moment: A year of seasonal recipes):

Garlic-Anchovy Mayonnaise
Makes about 1/2 cup

1 egg yolk
Salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 anchovy fillet
1/4 lemon
1/3 to 1/2 cup of neutral vegetable oil
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Put the yolk in a wide-mouth jar and pulse for about 30 seconds with an immersion blender. Add a good pinch of salt, as much minced garlic as you’d like (I used about half a clove, which made for a pretty mild mayo), the anchovy and a big squeeze of lemon juice. Pulse again. While pulsing, slowly drizzle in the oil until the mixture is emulsified and creamy. Taste for salt and thin with a little water if necessary.

Well worth a click.

I blogged one of her wonderful cards earlier. Here’s a good article. From the article:

Recently I blogged a photo of a driveway gate and mentioned that it seemed to be the work of the same person who did another gate—this one:

This one, as you see, is for a walkway. In the book A Pattern Language is a discussion of entryways, their importance, and various treatments. A gate with doorway is a good one. Here’s one with flowers from today’s walk:

Quite a bit is now in bloom, but it’s overcast and even though that makes for truer colors, the photos do seem less vivid.

I’ve always liked the idea that one’s yard plantings should yield food. Lemon trees are fairly common out here, and quite nice to have (especially, of course, Meyer lemons):

And I did my walk. The cold lingers, but the only symptom is somewhat low energy. The Zicam seems to be blocking other overt symptoms (running nose, sneezing, headaches, muscle aches, etc.).

I mean “stupid” in the sense of finding it difficult if not impossible to understand simple ideas. Take a look at an example in his area of “expertise”.

UPDATE: This post is even better.

As I’ve blogged, the Obama Administration has turned with fury on its original promises and pledges regarding medical marijuana and now are in full pursuit of state officials in states that legalize marijuana for medical purposes. All previous promises are now invalid. What a guy.

Scott Morgan has a good article in the Huffington Post:

When Attorney General Eric Holder announced in October 2009 that the Dept. of Justice would respect state medical marijuana laws, the nation breathed a collective sigh of relief. By that time, any lingering support for aggressive federal raids on medical marijuana providers had dwindled into invisibility. The American people wanted to see patients protected, and Obama’s pledge to do so earned him nothing but praise from both the press and the public.

Unfortunately, recent months have brought about what can only be described as the rapid collapse of the Obama Administration’s support for medical marijuana. Following dozens of aggressive DEA raids, along with some unusual IRS audits, the Dept. of Justice has now begun openly endeavoring to destroy carefully regulated state programs before they get off the ground:

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Several states have started reassessing their medical marijuana laws after stern warnings from the federal government that everyone from licensed growers to regulators could be subjected to prosecution.

The ominous-sounding letters from U.S. attorneys in recent weeks have directly injected the federal government back into a debate that has for years been progressing at the state level. Warnings in Washington state led Gov. Chris Gregoire to veto a proposal that would have created licensed marijuana dispensaries.
–
Letters with various cautions have also gone to officials in California, Colorado, Montana and Rhode Island.

It’s a sweeping intervention that instantly divorces the Obama Administration from its stated policy of not focusing resources on individuals who are clearly compliant with state law. Unlike the numerous recent dispensary raids, which could theoretically result from competing interpretations of state law, this new incursion constitutes a direct threat of arrest against state employees acting in good faith to administer perfectly lawful state programs.

The mindlessness of all this operates on multiple levels, beginning with . . .

Continue reading.